If the past appointment of Southerners, Alan Pardew, Joe Kinnear, Dennis Wise and Derek Llambias, to key positions in the Newcastle hierarchy proved unpopular choices on Tyneside, then the largely Northern make-up of the new football set-up from boardroom to boot room should appeal to Geordie fans.
Newcastle United: New Boot Room can Restore Club’s Northern Soul
Steve McClaren addressed Newcastle supporters via E-mail to thank them for their warm welcome on his appointment, to outline his vision and process for the immediate future of the club and confirm his new back room coaching team which has a distinctly Northern flavour like the newly shuffled board.
Owner, Mike Ashley, has stepped down from the board, leaving Lee Charnley, from Lancashire, as Managing Director. Charnley will control senior football appointments, and his first major decision was to call upon new Head Coach, Steve McClaren, who in turn has assembled a team of vibrant coaches and trusted lieutenants.
Yorkshireman, McClaren, has replaced Pardew as the top man in charge of first team football duties after an ill-fated five months with John Carver in the St. James’ Park hot-seat. However, the role – as Head Coach instead of Manager and a seat on the board à la the continental model – has evolved.
Geordie, Graham Carr, the Executive Super Scout chiefly responsible for the procurement of new players from across the football world, is from Corbridge and a lifelong Newcastle fan with a contract until 2020.
Newcastle have never won a trophy without a Scotsman in their team, and United legend, Bob Moncur, was the last to do so. His Club Ambassador role extended to the boardroom as a football director, and the man who guided The Magpies to the 1969 Fairs Cup trophy will build a bridge between fans and the upper management while having a significant input.
Management teamwork has been emphasised and Steve McClaren has brought in his own men to assist him on the training ground, with the most exciting choice being his 28-year-old assistant, Ian Cathro.
A Scot, like Moncur, Cathro was born in Dundee and as a dynamic 16-year-old “genius”, established his own football academy to develop young hopeful players into professionals and enjoyed an astonishing track record of doing so.
During a four-year stint at Dundee United, a chance meeting with a Portuguese coach in Scotland saw his skills scouted to Rio Ave where, as Assistant Manager, the club made two Cup Finals before a move to Valencia, whom he helped qualify for the Champions League.
A football purist with management aspirations of his own, Cathro’s been described as an attacking maverick with whirlwind tactics – a style that is sure to appeal to the Geordie fanbase.
Arriving from Derby is new First Team Coach, Paul Simpson, McClaren’s tried and trusted deputy.-Carlisle legend, Chris Lumsdon, played under “Simmo” during two promotions at Brunton Park, believes is an excellent choice.
Simpson is the ideal link-man between players and the Head Coach; having been a successful player, manager and coach himself, his experience from every rung of the football ladder is key and he’s a man up for a challenge, like Newcastle.
McClaren has stated Newcastle have “a lot of work to do” and has grasped the nettle to take a job a lot of managers have been warned off. Simpson did this at Stockport against advice and made a success of it, though.
New Head of Fitness, Alessandro Schoenmaker, a 35-year-old Brazilian who first worked with McClaren in their title-winning season at FC Twente and has since followed him to Wolfsburg and Forest, has also arrived from Derby. His task is to ensure the likes of Cheick Tiote, Siem De Jong and Rolando Aarons play 30+ games each a season and is a man McClaren speaks highly of:
“The Sports Science side of the game is hugely important and Alessandro will be working a lot on individual programmes for players.
“I’ve worked with him in the past and he is very good at what he does.”
Legendary Mr Motivator – Steve Black – is also involved providing the world class motivating skills which helped England’s Rugby Lions to the 2003 World Cup, a decade after guiding Kevin Keegan’s Magpies to the 1992/3 First Division Championship. Black will remove any flops and get more from a squad that beat Man City and Chelsea last season, yet finished top of the Injury League.
Outgoing coaches, John Carver and Steve Stone, are both Geordies, of course, yet it is a shrewd move to recruit the very best Northern talent to Steward the club to kickstart what everyone hopes is a new era.
McClaren spoke evocatively of having long had the desire to manage Newcastle and he intends to take a measured approach and get it right:
“Anybody who knows me well has known for a long time that I’ve wanted to be Head Coach of this great club and now that I’m here, I’m relishing what is ahead.
My time here so far has been spent meeting a lot of people, both inside the club and outside. At any club, you have to absorb as much information as possible, adapt quickly and then put your own stamp on things. Planning is key.
On the surface, things can seem quiet, but beneath it, I want to assure you that we are striving to be prepared for the upcoming season. The hard work needed to push us where we want to go is well underway.
That was no clearer anywhere than at the training ground yesterday as we welcomed the players back for the first day of pre-season training. There are some very tough days and weeks ahead for all of us in terms of hard work but the players are applying themselves fantastically and they will need to maintain those high standards, especially as we add to the squad this summer.”
Having formed an off-pitch team who will understand that passion and help tap into it and re-create it next season, the Northerners must tackle the key task of player recruitment, a major fan concern McClaren also addressed:
“I know the anticipation is already out there and that you want to see new players coming through the door immediately. That is natural. For me as head coach, however, it is so important that the right players come through the door. However long that takes, I want to make sure that we have just the type of people who can come in and force us forward.”
There have long been calls from the terraces for more English and Premier League-experienced players signings as foreign players from France’s Lique One or the Dutch Eredivisie can take time to adapt to the intensity and power of the top flight.
A traditional English centre forward like Charlie Austin would be ideal, having shown at QPR he can be a goalscoring force to be reckoned with even in a relegated side. This is much like both Demba Ba and Loic Remy for West Ham and QPR, respectively, before they were snapped up by The Magpies.
Ian Cathro’s Scottish and continental connections could come into play if Newcastle were to make a move for Ryan Gauld, the 19-year-old Scottish prodigy dubbed the Mini-Messi, who owes a lot to Cathro’s coaching skills before making the move from Dundee United to Sporting Lisbon.
With one of Newcastle’s stated mandates to find and develop local Geordie talent alongside the opening of a new luxury training facility in 2015/16, Cathro’s importance in maximising the impact of the current crop of young players like Aarons, Callum Roberts and Adam Armstrong, is massive.
Newcastle are going back to their Northern roots in many respects. Yet, bringing in men on the cutting edge of their industries and sporting fields will be crucial in returning the club to where it belongs in the upper echelons of the Premier League.
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